by Sunny Lynn, OMC | Jul 18, 2023 | Attachment Trauma, Complex PTSD Healing, CPTSD, CPTSD and Narcissistic Abuse, Guest Contributor
A Daughter’s Pain – a Mother’s Happiness: Growing up with a Jealous, Narcissistic Mother (as published in The Friday Edition of HeartBalm Healing at https://heartbalm.substack.com) As an adult, you may look back at your childhood self and realize how...
by Madelon Wise | Jul 14, 2023 | Abandonment and CPTSD, ACEs, CPTSD and Narcissistic Abuse, CPTSD Survivor Stories, Guest Contributor
After my mother died, there it would be in my lunch box: Wonder bread enveloping two slices of flabby, sodium-laden meat. Second, only to the chemicals, the processed-beyond-belief combination of pork, spices, and beef was infused with green olives and pimentos. Yes,...
by Rebekah Brown | Jun 28, 2023 | Complex PTSD Healing, CPTSD and Inner Child Work, CPTSD and Narcissistic Abuse, Family Estrangement, Narcissistic Personality Disorder
For part one of this series see What are The Roles in Dysfunctional Families Systems? A Short Childhood Story My brother glanced at me as we “read” the emotional temperature of the room. What was tonight going to be like? My mother already had one of those frowns on...
by Sylvie Rouhani | Jun 14, 2023 | Complex PTSD Healing, Core Beliefs, CPTSD, CPTSD and Inner Child Work, CPTSD and Narcissistic Abuse, Emotional Flashbacks, Guest Contributor, Self Care
Recently, during meditation, I heard a young inner part of me, loud and clear: “I am not allowed to be happy.” I had just received the publication date for The Blossoming Lotus, my up-coming poetry book. Instead of excitement, I felt suddenly depressed. ...
by Rebekah Brown | May 3, 2023 | Attachment Trauma, Boundaries, CPTSD and Narcissistic Abuse, Family Estrangement, Gaslighting, Guest Contributor, Relationships, Trauma
This is the sixth and last installment in a series of blogs on relationship patterns found in dysfunctional families. We have seen how abusive families put members in roles and the way abusers dodge responsibility by blaming others and forcing children to become...
by Rebekah Brown | Mar 29, 2023 | Attachment Trauma, Boundaries, CPTSD and Narcissistic Abuse, Generational Trauma, Guest Contributor, Healing from Toxic Shame, Living with Disabilities, Parental Alienation, Toxic Relationships, Trauma
When you look at patterns within dysfunctional family systems, without fail, you will find the hallmark of a false narrative. The engine of the family system runs on untruths, half-truths, and constructed reality. And it doesn’t start where your story begins....